


It's Quiet Uptown

by warrior_of_wisdom



Series: Castle Town Coffee Shop [12]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Genre: A very tiny bit of fluff, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Car Accidents, Cults, F/M, Hospitals, Kidnapping, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The bad feelings return, Time is a very worried dad, am i intentionally choosing musical songs as titles? yes., they all need lots of hugs, title is from hamilton again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26292916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warrior_of_wisdom/pseuds/warrior_of_wisdom
Summary: Wind really needed to start listening to his gut feelings more often.
Relationships: Legend & Warriors (Linked Universe), Legend & Wind (Linked Universe), Tetra (Legend of Zelda)/Wind (Linked Universe), Time & Wind (Linked Universe), Warriors & Wind (Linked Universe)
Series: Castle Town Coffee Shop [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883869
Comments: 31
Kudos: 107





	1. Disappear

**Author's Note:**

> okay, completely unrelated beginning note...  
> i've literally been listening to Candy Store from Heathers on repeat for the last two hours. this song is never, ever going to leave my head.  
> on an actual related note, this update is just full of angst. read carefully, guys.

Wind had that bad feeling in his stomach again.

The same feeling that he had on the day he was almost killed by Cia was there, and he almost felt sick. Still, he powered through the day, making small talk with the customers and keeping a bright smile on his face.

Tetra came in around midday, grinning as she walked up to the counter. “How are you doing?” she said. “I haven’t seen enough of you lately.”

“I’m okay,” he said. “Almost died a couple days ago, but I’m cool now.”

Tetra nodded, until his words fully registered. “Wait, _what?_ Why didn’t you tell me?”

Wind sighed. “It’s kind of a long story,” he said. “I’m on break in five minutes. We can talk then.”

Tetra groaned, saying, “Can I get an iced coffee and chocolate chunk cookie?”

Wind put the order into the computer. “Six dollars, twenty-seven cents.”

Tetra slid a ten dollar bill across the counter, staring daggers into him. “We’re talking about this later,” she said. “Keep the change.”

Wind nodded, taking the bill. “Thanks.”  
She walked to a table, sitting down with a huff, and Wind still had that bad feeling.

Legend finished Tetra’s drink in no time, grabbing two cookies and handing both of them to him. “Go take this to your girlfriend,” he said. “I’ll get ‘Rule to take your place.”

Wind took them from his hands, walking out from behind the counter and to Tetra’s table. He put down the drink and sat down, sighing. “So, I guess you want to know what happened.”

“Uh, yeah! Obviously!” she said, glaring at him. “You don’t just say that to someone and then expect them to be completely calm!”

Wind leaned back. “Well, it all started a couple years ago.”

“Oh, come _on!”_

“I said it was a long story,” he said. “A couple years ago, my older brother met a girl named Cia. She seemed to be pretty nice, super charming, and always had a smile on her face.

“She was a complete psychopath.”

“That sucks,” she said. “What happened next?”

“Over time, her true colors started to show,” he said. “She started getting really mean, and she isolated him from his friends and family, including me. Eventually, she made him move out of the house entirely, buying a new house. She never let him leave, and essentially controlled everything he did.”

“What happened next?”

“After a while, she took away his phone, too. She basically told me that if I tried to get in contact with him, she would kill both of us.”

“That… really sucks.”

“Yeah, his soulmark showed up a couple days ago, and it wasn’t her, and Cia really didn’t like that,” he said. “So she decided to try and kill the both of us.”

“Well, you’re okay, right?”

“Actually, I’m pretty traumatized from when she _literally kidnapped me in my sleep_ _and tried to kill me,_ but other than that, I’m fine,” he said. “Oh, wait.” He pushed the sleeve of his sweatshirt up. “I also got this nasty scar.”

“How did that happen?” she asked, leaning forward to get a better look.

“She had a knife.”

“Oh, goddess,” she said, looking up at him. “Are you okay?”

“I hope so,” he said. “Warrior and I are both pretty traumatized after all of that. I don’t think I’m ever gonna forget being in there with them when they…”

He shut his eyes tight, forcing the images to leave his head. “I’m never gonna forget it.”

“I’m sorry,” she said sympathetically. “If you ever need to talk, you’ve always got me, okay?”

Wind smiled faintly. “‘Kay.”

Tetra leaned back, slumping against the seat. “My dad got me a private tutor,” she said, sighing. “It’s so stupid. I get, like, straight Bs. That’s not even bad compared to some other students!”

“That sucks,” he said. “My parents don’t really care about my grades as long as I get above a C. They were too tired from raising three kids.”

“Oh, yeah, you have a little sister too,” she said. “How is she?”

“She’s doing pretty well,” Wind said. “She’s super into pirates, though. Linebeck told her some pirate stories on a boat ride and now she wants to be one when she grows up.”

“Well, being a pirate wouldn’t be too bad,” Tetra said. “I had this game with a few other friends when I was little, where we would play pirates. I was always the captain, since I made the game, and the others were my crew. We pillaged and plundered all the treasure in the little kid playground at school.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Like, ten years ago. I was so little back then.”

“So I’m guessing you skipped the princess phase, then?”

“Why would I be interested in stuff like that?” she said, laughing. “I’m a tomboy. Most of my best friends were guys, growing up.”

“At least you had friends.”

They paused for a second, before laughing. “That’s tough, buddy,” Tetra said. “Once school starts, I’m introducing you to people.”

“Oh no, not physical interaction with other people!” Wind joked. “My worst nightmare!”

Tetra laughed. “Seriously, though, I’m going to make you make friends,” she said. “You can’t go through life without a stable support system. My friends helped me out a lot when my parents divorced.”

“Wait, your parents are divorced? I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, my mom cheated on my dad with some twenty-year old, and he was really hurt by it. She divorced him to go run off with that guy. I think he left her, though.”

“That really sucks,” he said. “When did that happen?”

“About three years ago,” she said. “I live with my dad now. He was really broken up about it—she was his soulmate. You don’t just throw that away. I promised myself I wasn’t gonna be like her, so don’t worry.”

She paused for a moment. “But if you cheat on me, I _will_ shove you through a meat grinder. Don’t test me.”

“Okay, okay! Don’t threaten me like that!” he said, putting his hands up and taking a bite of the cookie he had neglected. “I wouldn’t do that. I have _some_ honor.”

Tetra laughed. “I wouldn’t be that extreme, but I would definitely make you pay.”

Her phone vibrated, and she picked it up. She sighed, rolling her eyes. “Dad says I have to get home,” she said. “I have tutoring in twenty minutes.”

“Bye,” he said, waving to her. She walked off, and he _still_ felt sick.

He sighed, walking to the back room. “Time?” he asked. “I feel sick. Can I go home early today?”

“What does it feel like?”

“It feels like this weird pit in my stomach,” he said. “I feel like I need to throw up, but I tried earlier, and nothing happened.”

Time frowned, walking over and putting a hand on his forehead. “You don’t feel hot,” he said. “Still, if you feel sick, you should go home. I don’t want you spreading anything to anyone else.”

Wind nodded, untying his apron and grabbing his back. “I’ll probably be back tomorrow,” he said. “I just really don’t feel well today.”

Time smiled sympathetically. “Go get some rest,” he said. “You’ve had a busy few days.”

Wind gave him a thumbs up, walking out of the back room. “Bye!” he yelled to everyone, rushing out the front door.

He pulled his phone out of his sweatshirt pocket, calling his brother. Warrior didn’t pick up, and he sighed, leaving a voicemail. “I’m on my way home,” he said. “I don’t feel well, so I left work early. I’ll see you soon!”

He grabbed his earbuds, plugging them in and scrolling through his Spotify playlist until he found a good song to listen to. He walked down the path, weaving through groups of people and crossing streets.

He was almost lost in the music when someone tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, young man,” an older woman said. “I have a meeting very soon, but I’m slow, and have trouble crossing the street. Could you help me?”

At that moment, he had many thoughts, all of them screaming at him to say _no._

But he couldn’t bring himself to refuse someone help. What if they genuinely needed help? Wind wasn’t about to hurt someone because of a gut feeling.

So he held out his hand, inviting her to take it.

The old woman flashed him a grateful smile, and he helped her walk across the road, guiding her down the street. “Where do you need to go, ma’am?” he asked.

“Just down here,” she said, leaning on him. “On the right.” Wind looked to the right and the suspicion returned.

“Down the alleyway?” he asked, looking at her.

“Yes,” she said.

“Do you think you can make it the rest of the way on your own?”

“I forgot my walking stick at home,” she said. “I don’t think so.”

Wind sucked in a breath. “Okay, then,” he said, walking down the alley.

They stopped in front of a door, and the old woman said, “Thank you for your help, Wind.”

He froze. “I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he lied.

“Don’t lie, kid,” a rough voice said from behind him. “We’ve been looking for you for quite a while.”

A hand wrapped around his torso, and Wind barely had time to grab his phone and call his brother before something covered his face.

He was only able to get one word out.

_“Help!”_

  
  
  


Time closed the door to the shop, turning the sign to CLOSED. He turned around, walking to the back room. Legend and Hyrule were cleaning the counter, and Twilight, Wild, and Sky were cleaning the tables. He knew Malon and Blue were in the kitchen, packing up all the food and cleaning.

He opened his computer, looking back at the symbol that Malon had shown him the previous night. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that one of the Children of Demise had nearly killed a child. 

A thought occurred to him. If Cia had managed to figure something out about Wind and Warrior, and she tried to kill them on the same day that Wind had a less-than-desirable feeling…

He gasped. “I never should have let him leave.”

“Honey, is something wrong?” Malon asked, walking into the room and seeing him clearly distraught. “What happened?”

He slammed his computer closed, rushing out to the store. “I need someone to call Wind right now.”

“What’s going on?” Sky asked, confused.

“He left work sick earlier,” Time said, his heart racing. “I’m worried that something bad happened.”

“Why would you be so worried about that? It’s probably just a cold,” Blue pointed out.

“The last time he felt sick, he was nearly killed by Cia the next day.”

“It might just be a coincidence,” Hyrule said. “I’ve felt bad plenty of times, and nothing happened.”

“Yes, but I have a really bad feeling about this,” he said. “Someone, please just call him.”

Legend picked up his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he found Wind’s phone number. He called him, putting the phone on speaker.

It went straight to voicemail.

“He always answers calls,” Legend said, frowning. He called him again, only to have it go to voicemail again. “I don’t get it. Why isn’t he picking up?”

He typed out a text message, putting his phone on the counter and waiting for him to respond. They all waited for the buzz with bated breath.

Finally, his phone buzzed, and Legend almost knocked his phone off the counter. He eagerly picked up his phone, only for his excited expression to drop as he read the message. “It was my friend. He was asking if I had borrowed one of his t-shirts.”

“Look, maybe he’s just asleep,” Hyrule said, trying to lift the mood. “He’s okay. I’m sure of it.”

As soon as he said that, they could hear banging on the door. Malon walked over, unlocking the door. Standing behind it was Wind’s older brother, Warrior.

“Come in, honey,” Malon said. “Is everything okay?”

He seemed extremely distressed, with his hair a mess and clothes wrinkled. “Wind came into work today, right?” he asked, looking at them hopefully. “Is he still here?”

“He left about four hours ago,” Time said. “He said he felt sick.”

Warrior took a deep breath, sitting down. “You haven’t seen him since?”

“Nothing,” Legend said. “I called him twice, and texted him. We haven’t heard anything since.”

Warrior hugged himself, pulling on the ends of his scarf. “He called me earlier.”

Time looked over at him. “What did he say?”

“I didn’t pick up the phone, but it went to voicemail,” he said. “He only said one word.”

“What did he say?” Time repeated.

Warrior hesitated for a second. “There were some fumbling noises, and then he screamed for help and everything cut off.”

The entire room went silent. “You don’t think…” Malon whispered.

Time met her gaze, dark blue eyes filled with fear and resentment. “It was them, wasn’t it?”

“Who?” Legend demanded. “You know something. What happened? Who are you talking about?”

“It’s a long story…”

“Don’t give me any of that crap! Hyrule and I _live_ with you, and unless they don’t care, I’m sure Blue, Sky, and Warrior don’t have anything better to do. No more explaining all this stuff away. We deserve an answer, Time.”

He stood there for a moment, shoulders squared, glaring right into his eyes. After a moment, Time relented. “You really want to know the truth?”

“What happened to my brother?” Warrior said, standing up. “I have a right to know.”

Time sighed. “Well, it all started about twenty-three years ago…”


	2. Anything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're putting the pieces together, at least...

“Is there any way you can speed this up? I want to know what happened to him,” Warrior said. Behind him, Legend hummed in agreement.

Time sighed. “Warrior, your brother was kidnapped by a cult.”

There was a single second of blissful silence before the room erupted into chaos.

“What do you mean,  _ he was kidnapped by a cult?” _

“I knew you got into weird stuff when you were younger, but I didn’t know it was  _ that _ weird!”

“How do you know for sure?”

“You’re kidding, right?.”

“My goddess, old man, you could at least  _ warn us!” _

“Oh my gosh, is he gonna be okay? Please tell me he’s gonna be okay!”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner? If you’re involved in something like this, we should have known, at least.”

“That’s enough,” Time said, silencing everyone in the room. “I didn’t tell you of my past interactions with this cult because I didn’t want to put you in danger.”

“You didn’t want to put us in danger? What does that mean?” Hyrule asked.

“They have a habit of wanting to ruin my life for ruining theirs,” Time sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“Tell us about the cult,” Legend said. “We want to help. Really. We do.”

Time groaned. “I owe you this much,” he muttered. “It’s called the Children of Demise. They believe that they’re… well, the children of the god Demise. Or his incarnations, if you’d like to be correct..”

“Who’s that?” Hyrule asked, cocking his head to the side.

“The ancient god of destruction and death,” he said. “He was said to place a curse on the ancient heroes that both of their spirits and the spirit of the goddess were to be eternally reincarnated.”

“How were you involved with them?” Twilight asked.

“...Goddess, this was a terrible idea. Have any of you ever heard of the Fierce Deity?”

“Yeah,” Wild said, sitting on the counter. “He was like a real-life superhero— _ oh my goddess.” _

“You’re the Fierce Deity?” Twilight said, eyes widening in amazement.

“A very long time ago, I was,” he said. “I fought against the Children of Demise on many occasions. I met Malon in the middle of the whole affair, and she joined me in battle from time to time.”

“Our parents are real superheroes,” Wild said, rocking back and forth. “This is crazy!”

“Not really superheroes,” Malon said. “We didn’t have powers or anything of the sort. We just did a lot of training.”

“So you were the Fierce Deity and Malanya,” Legend said. “Why did you stop? You inspired so many people.”

“We stopped because we had kids,” Malon said. “We didn’t want Wild and Twilight to live in danger, so we decided to drop the hero business and settle down. Around the same time, we thought the Children of Demise had disbanded.”

“They didn’t,” Sky said darkly. “They never did.”

Time looked over at him, eyebrows raised. “How do you know that?”

“They killed my parents.”

Malon froze. “Honey, I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t be,” Sky said, raising a hand. “That was years ago, and it definitely wasn’t my final encounter with the Children of Demise.”

“What happened?” Wild asked.

“This was about six months after I had met Sun. We had just left our high school graduation, and we had gone to the park together,” he said. “When we were alone, we were cornered by a guy with super pale skin and white hair.”

“Ghirahim,” Time said.

“Yes, exactly. He knocked me out, and when I woke up, I was tied to a tree and Sun was gone,” he said. “I teamed up with a friend of mine, named Groose, to help get her back. The three of us have banded together to keep track of the Children of Demise ever since, to keep anything like that from happening.”

“What happened to her?”

“It’s been three years, and she still hasn’t said anything other than that he hurt her in ways she can’t describe,” Sky said, eyebrows pinched in anger. “She doesn’t talk about it at all, but Groose and I have managed to assemble an idea of what happened. I don’t want to talk about it, but let’s just say that the next time I come across him, I’m going to snap his neck without a second thought.”

He took a deep breath. “Sun ran into him in town the other day,” he said, trying to control his anger. “She managed to escape before anything bad happened, but I’m still so worried. The Children of Demise know where we are. That isn’t good at all.”

“So you think they’re coming back together?” Blue said, sitting down and leaning his face against his palm.

“I don’t think, I’m absolutely positive,” he said. “Sun’s been keeping track of the leader, Ganondorf Dragmire. A couple weeks ago, he left in the middle of the night, taking his son with him.”

“Ganondorf had a son?” Time asked, frowning.

“Yeah…”

“What’s his name?”

“I’m not exactly sure… I  _ think _ it was Shadow, though.”

“Wait,” Blue said, freezing. “Shadow is my little brother’s soulmate’s name.”

“And a fifteen-year old named Shadow came to the shop the other day,” Malon said.

“You think that’s him?”

“I’m sure,” she said.

“I don’t think he was raised in the cult. Sun said that when they left, he was trying his best to fight everyone off. He didn’t understand a thing.”

Time stood there for a moment, thinking, until something occurred to him. “What day is it?” he asked, looking around.

Legend pulled out his phone. “June twenty-third,” he said. “Why?”

“June twenty-third,” he muttered. “I remember this. Why do I remember this—oh,  _ no.” _

“What’s wrong?” Hyrule asked, leaning forward.

“Every twenty years, on the last day of the sixth month, the cult makes a sacrifice to Demise,” he said, slowly beginning to panic. “That’s seven days from now.”

There was a long moment where everyone looked up at each other, and their eyes all met.

Finally, Warrior said in an extremely quiet voice, “So in seven days, a cult is going to sacrifice my little brother to a demon god.”

“I thought it was bad enough, but the way you put it makes it even worse,” Legend breathed.

There was a single moment of silence.

“Oh my goddess, my brother is going to be dead in seven days,” Warrior said, yanking on the ends of his scarf.

The room devolved into complete chaos. There were shouts and cries and it was so loud, nobody could think—

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!” Hyrule yelled, bringing everyone to a complete stop as they looked over at the usually quiet boy. “If we keep freaking out like this, we can’t do anything! We have seven days to save him. If we plan this out well, that’s more than enough time. He might die, but only if we sit here and do nothing! If he dies and we didn’t do anything to stop it, it’s not the cult’s fault; it’s  _ ours. _ We can  _ do  _ something, guys.”

“Hyrule’s right,” Sky said. “When Sun went missing, I taught myself how to use a sword and went to save her myself.”

“I thought you had a friend.”

“Groose just helped me track him down. I did all the actual fighting.”

“Oh.”

“But we have to do  _ something,” _ he said. “We can’t just let him die. He’s a member of our family, and we have to protect each other.”

“...Family?”

“I’ve basically accepted pretty much everyone in this room as my family at this point.”

“You don’t even know me well,” Warrior interjected, but Sky cut him off.

“You’re Wind’s brother, that’s enough,” he said. “He looks up to you a lot, you know. All of you.”

“Then we won’t let him down,” Legend said, a determined glint in his eyes. “He’s our family.”

“Ahem, excuse me?”

“That doesn’t mean I love you any less, ‘Rule.”

“We need to put some sort of plan together,” Time said, walking to the back room and grabbing some paper and pens.

As soon as he dropped everything on the table, Warrior’s phone buzzed. He picked it up, holding it up to his ear. “Hello?”

They looked over to him.

“Yes, this is me. Why?”  
They watched as his face suddenly turned extremely distraught. “What?”

He shut his eyes tight, and they could have sworn a tear slipped down his cheek. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

His shoulders slumped, and he bowed his head. “I understand. Thank you.”

As soon as he hung up the phone, he broke down in sobs.

Malon was instantly at his side. “What’s wrong, baby?”

He leaned into Malon’s embrace, sobs shuddering through his body. “M-my parents w-were i-in a car c-crash,” he said. “They mi-might not m-make it out.”

The deafening silence in the room, penetrated only by Warrior’s sobs, laid a blanket of depression and sadness over everyone. For the first time, it felt like they were finally realizing what was going on.

One of their best friends was about to die.

  
  
  


Warrior and Legend drove to the hospital in silence, the younger boy’s hand wrapped around his older friend’s. Neither of them could handle being alone right now.

Legend would never admit it, but he understood what Warrior was feeling on a level he didn’t want to acknowledge. He remembered hearing his mother’s scream of anger and rage and frustration, and when Daddy didn’t come home the next day, he knew what happened. From then on, Legend had vowed to protect Hyrule with his life.

Then age sixteen had come along.

_ Legend, Fable, Hilda, and Ravio were sitting at a table in Fable’s house, eating cake and joking about things at school. For the first time in ages, Legend had felt like he could finally let loose, and he was happy. _

_ He had spent so much time with his friends that he lost track of time, eventually. Before he knew it, it was ten o’clock. He should have been home hours ago. _

_ Fable had tried her best to convince him to stay, saying that he didn’t  _ have _ to leave, he was just making excuses, but he left anyway. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t know about how he lived at home. _

_ His mother had been so,  _ so _ angry at how late he had stayed out, and she had gone on a long rant about how he had no respect for her whatsoever and that he was worthless. _

_ He had apologized so many times, his body seizing with sobs as he begged for forgiveness, when she saw that evil glint in her eyes that sent a chill through his body. _

_ “I’ll give you a choice,” she said, in a voice that would haunt Legend’s nightmares for months. “I’ll either punish your brother… or you can be the one to do it instead.” _

_ He froze. So many thoughts were going through his head, all of them screaming NO but he didn’t know what to do. _

_ He thought of something. If he didn’t do it himself, their mother would absolutely be so much worse… _

_ Hyrule’s screams still haunted him to that day. _

“Legend? We’re here.”

Legend snapped back to consciousness immediately, clenching his hands into fists to try and stop them from shaking. “What are you waiting for?”

“You,” he said. “Why did you want to come, anyway?”

“Because I care about Wind,” he said. “And I know how you’re feeling. It sucks, to lose someone you’re so close to.”

“How would you know that?”

_ “You don’t want to know.” _

Warrior nodded, and the two of them into the hallway.

Legend  _ hated _ the smell of antiseptic. It reminded him too much of days when he would have to use the wipes to clean his own wounds, and make sure they weren’t infected.

They got name tags, walking down the hallway until they reached the intensive care unit. “They’re only letting family members in right now,” the nurse said. “Mr. Martinez, I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait out here.”

“That’s okay,” Legend said, sitting down in one of the chairs that was right outside of the room. The nurse followed Warrior into the room, and he was alone again.

It seemed like he was always alone at the end of the day. Laying alone while Hyrule was asleep next to him, alone when Marin left to go help her father move some things, alone on the walk home when curfew was approaching, alone when he was curled up in a ball covered in his own blood.

He looked up at the white ceiling, the bright, fluorescent lights shining directly in his eyes. He shut them tightly, making a quiet promise to himself.

_ I’ll be there whenever any of them need me. I won’t ever be the monster that hit my brother that night again. _

_ I’ll be whatever they need me to be, and hopefully that’s enough. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... i'm really sorry  
> really really sorry  
> i seem to be saying that a lot lately

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sorry  
> really, i am  
> ...  
> i'm also still taking requests


End file.
